Born in secrecy, the Comprehensive National Cyber­security Initiative (CNCI) is possibly one of the most significant technology policy events of the decade and could affect the cyber landscape for the next half century. Championed by the Director of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell, this initiative was made possible by the hard work of Melissa E. Hathaway, who forged consensus among nearly two dozen diverse organizations and several Congressional committees to make the initiative work. Now that the initiative is under way, she took a brief moment to share the view from the inside of the creation of this historic program.